Desiree McMurry - Three Questions

Desiree McMurry is our Haiku - Three Questions guest this week. She writes:

Hi Curtis,

Thanks for your willingness to have me as the "3 Questions" poet! I appreciate it very much and feel honored amd humbled to have my name alongside so many accomplished and talented poets.

Here's a little bit about me:

I'm 41 and live with my husband of 18 years and 4 homeschooled children on a sheep farm in Missouri. Sometimes I feel I have an unfair advantage when it comes to haiku, as I'm constantly surrounded by various natural phenomena -- muddy fields, migrating geese, lambs, young leaves, the list could go on and on. My family are an inspiration, too.

I began writing haiku again in 2004 after a very long hiatus beginning at the age of 10, when I wrote my very first haiku in 5th grade! I have placed in the Tokutomi contest, including 1st in 2008 as well as honorable mentions in a few of the Anita Sadler Weiss Memorial contests. I've been published in the Geppo Study/Work Journal of the Yuki Teikei Haiku Society and in each of their member anthologies since 2005.

Okay, enough about me. Here are answers to your three questions:

1. Why do you write haiku?

Writing haiku allows me savor the moments of grace which are part of everyday existence, when I make myself slow down enough to take those moments in. Reading haiku is an excellent reminder of the grace which is all around us, when we open ourselves to it. The best haiku take me out of myself into something which, to quote C.S. Lewis, is " bigger on the inside than it is on the outside".

2. What other poetic forms do you enjoy?

Being so new to poetry I haven't attempted to write any form other than haiku, though I do fantasize about writing haibun some day and I really like reading it. My favorite haiku poets (so far) are Chiyo-ni, Shiki, and Buson. Free verse poetry is a new reading endeavour for me, particularly Seamus Heaney and Jane Kenyon.

3. Of the many wonderful haiku you've written, what do you consider to be your top three? (Please provide original publication credits.)

This question makes me blush, so I'll keep my answer short and (hopefully) sweet:


laughing baby
the clarity
of this spring moon

(unpublished)



winter garden
the stems
go this way and that

Yuki Teikei Geppo Study Journal, Jan-Feb 2008


This last one was inspired by my growing-up-too-fast 5 1/2 year old daughter, when we were walking along the creek near our house:


youngest daughter
passing through
the willow shoots

2nd place, Kaji Aso Studio’s International Haiku Contest 2009


Once again, thank you, Curtis! Keep up the good work!

Desiree McMurry

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If you've been enjoying this weekly series and have not contributed, please consider sharing your response (whether it be for haiku or tanka) to the three little questions that Desiree answered. You must be a published poet in order to participate.

Chad Lee Robinson will be our guest next week.